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11bn/- set aside to boost governance
2007-12-11 10:09:22
By Lydia Shekighenda
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Account Threshold has set aside more than 11 billion/- for a two-year programme to curb corruption and strengthen the rule of law and good governance in Tanzania.
The US Ambassador to Tanzania, Mark Green, broke the news in Dar es Salaam yesterday when he talked to reporters at the launch of the multi-media campaign aimed at increasing public awareness on the new law on corruption.
Green said the programme has started showing impressive results in its first year of existence, including a noticeable rise in the number of stories in the Tanzanian media exposing corruption.
``This threshold programme is only one of the several programmes that the US government provides as direct assistance to Tanzania,`` observed the ambassador.
He said the US supports public expenditure tracking systems in the hope that it will be widely adopted as a tool to prevent corruption.
Public awareness was at the heart of public expenditure tracking and a critical weapon in the fight against corruption, he added.
``The goal of this media campaign we are launching today is to help prevent corruption by making sure everyone is aware that certain activities are corrupt and that they are punishable offenses,`` Ambassador Green pointed out.
Clement Mashamba, executive director of the National Organisation for Legal Assistance (NOLA), meanwhile said the launch resulted from the enactment of the 2007 Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act.
He said Act is meant to promote and enhance good governance and eradicate corruption, adding: ``It has come up with several progressive elements relating to the prevention and combating of corruption.``
``NOLA and PCCB have decided to undertake a project seeking to facilitate people’s participation and public awareness of the new anti corruption legislation,`` Mashamba noted further.
He said the informed participation of civil society organisations and the citizenry in the anti-corruption crusade and the enhancement of good governance was a basic human right.
``It is a right guaranteed by the Constitution and forming a very important basis for effective prevention and combating of corruption in a democratic society,” he observed.
He explained the project undertakes capacity building to members of the civil society and the media by involving publications, production and dissemination of popular materials or simplified versions of public awareness on the new anti-corruption legislation.
MCC, through Millennium Challenge Account - Tanzania (MCA-T), is due to execute large-scale projects worth 698.3bn/- in the water, energy and transport sectors to fight poverty in different parts of the country.
Implementation is set to start early next year, soon after signing the MCC Compact.
MCA-Tanzania is a legal entity set up in September this year to oversee the implementation of projects and activities funded by the Compact.
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